One of the more intriguing shows of this fall's tepid television season is "Pan Am," which focuses on a gaggle of young stewardesses – as they were called then – flying for the unofficial American flagship airline during its early 1960s heyday.

The series has been derided as "Mad Men in the Sky" for its obvious slipstreaming of the popular show set in a New York advertising agency during the early 1960s. From the two weeks of "Pan Am" I've watched so far, there's a lot of thematic overlap. Strong women beginning to push back at a male-dominated culture, New York as the center of the universe, and really sharp clothes.

"Passion, jealousy and espionage. ... They do it all – and they do it at 30,000 feet. The style of the 1960s, the energy and excitement of the Jet Age and a drama full of sexy entanglements," touts the ABC news release.

Whatever. Me, I'm into it for the planes. Whatever its flaws, "Pan Am" had me hooked from the beginning, with a computer-generated opening shot of a fresh-from-the-factory Boeing 707 as it rolled up to the Pan Am Worldport, the flying-saucer shaped terminal at what was then New York International Airport, but known informally by its even earlier name, Idlewild. It was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport in December 1963, a month after the president's assassination.

While I have a vague interest in the pop culture world of midcentury ad campaigns of "Mad Men," "Pan Am" taps into the aviation golden age I missed out on – the one that was launched with the introduction of the 707 in the 1950s. Back when the modernist Pan Am building loomed over Grand Central Terminal in New York, a visual reminder of the dominance of air travel over trains.

My opinion of the show rose even higher when it showed the engines of a 707 revving up for a run down the runway – the black tubes coming out of the back of the engines cast them as turbojets, the predecessor of the turbofans of today. A little bit of detail for the aviation buff. I tolerate the clunky melodrama just to look at the CGI shots of the 707 flying across the sky or see the stewardesses in their powder-blue uniforms and the flight captains in their white hats.

I never knew the Pan Am portrayed in the show, the classy airline that circled the globe. Its glory was in the days before airline deregulation, when it could operate foreign-only routes at a profit. Airline deregulation in 1978 pushed Pan Am to compete with domestic carriers, with disastrous results. By the time I flew the airline in 1988, it was a shadow of itself, carrying passengers in creaky, early-vintage 747s between Los Angeles and London. A later flight on what turned out to be a leased Airbus had to land in Bangor, Maine, when it ran low on fuel. It wasn't long before the airline vacated its headquarters (since renamed the MetLife Building), sold its overseas routes and, after a few fitful restarts, disappeared. The Worldport became Terminal 3.

I still have my Pan Am frequent-flier card tacked up over my desk at home. It's a reminder that I caught the tail end of a classic career. "Pan Am" reminds me every Sunday night what I missed.

A composite image of the famous Worldport terminal at what was then New York International Airport and characters from the new television series "Pan Am." Courtesy of ABC
"Pan Am" is a window into the heyday of Jet Age travel ABC
The once revolutionary Pan Am Worldport opened at Idlewild in 1960. Today it is part of Delta's terminal complex, but is slated for demolition. ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Pan Am 707 was the signature symbol of the Jet Age AP file photo
The Pan Am Building, at far left, was a key piece of the Manhattan skyline of 1965. BOB GOLDBERG, AP
A Pan Am stewardess with a Polaroid camera - how retro can you get. The ABC series is like an airborne version of the "Mad Men" era of the early 1960s. Courtesy of ABC
Christina Ricci is the main "name" attached to the new ABC series "Pan Am." She plays a purser who confronts the sexism of the early 1960s. Courtesy of ABC
Pan Am's Worldport in 1960, with a 707 parked at a gate. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Singer Robert Goulet carries his wife Carol Lawrence in 1964 as they board a Pan Am flight in New York on their way to London for their honeymoon. AP file photo
Black activist Malcolm X returns to New York from the Middle East in the early 1960s, the familiar Pan Am bag given to passengers under his arm. AP file photo
A Boeing 747 takes off from Frankfurt, Germany on the final Pan Am departure from the city in November 1991. Pan Am had sold its European routes to Delta Airlines. KURT STRUMPF, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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